Fort William yoga enthusiast almost two times over drink drive limit

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A Banavie pensioner has been fined and banned from driving by a sheriff after police were alerted by staff at a local leisure centre that she smelled of alcohol while trying to attend a yoga class.

Kathryn Margaret Campbell, 73, appeared at Fort William Sheriff Court on Tuesday February 26, where she admitted that on February 11, on the A82 and A830 between Lochaber Leisure Centre and Banavie, she drove a car with a breath alcohol reading of 40mgs of alcohol in 100mls of breath – almost double the legal limit.

The court heard that Campbell entered Lochaber Leisure Centre in Fort William to attend a yoga class when the receptionist noticed a smell of alcohol coming from her breath. Campbell agreed not to take part in the class and then got in her car to drive home to Banavie, roughly three miles away. The police were then phoned and some two hours later they entered her address and breathalyzed her.

Defence agent Stephen Kennedy told the court that Campbell had consumed a ‘fairly large’ quantity of wine from when she arrived home to before the police arrived.

Sheriff MacDonald banned Campbell from driving for a year for the offence, telling her she could qualify for a three-month discount if she successfully completed a drink driver rehabilitation course. She also fined her £600.